THE MASSACRE AT MALTA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520006-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: November 29, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520006-9
RED
ON PAGE =)-
WASHINGTON TIMES
29 November 1985
RALPH DE TOLEDANO
The world may never have the
full facts of the carnage at
Malta airport. But this
much is agonizingly clear:
1. The Greek government - anti-
U.S. and pro-Soviet - cannot be
trusted to maintain security at the
Athens international airport. The
Greeks took umbrage at reports,
after the TWA hijacking, that its
anti-terrorist security was virtually
non-existent. Yet the Malta terror-
ists were able to board an EgyptAir
jetliner in Athens carrying arms and
explosives.
How deliberate was this careless-
ness?
2. The terrorists carried Moroc-
can passports, as did those in the
Achille Lauro piracy.
Morocco has tied itself loosely to
Libya, the center of organized world
terrorism. This invites some
frightening conjectures.
3. The EgyptAir terrorists spoke
Eastern Arabic, as opposed to the
Western Arabic spoken in Libya and
Morocco.
They could therefore only be
Lebanese or Palestinian. As such
they were under the direct discipline
of either Syria or the Palestine Lib-
eration Organization, both of which
conduct their terrorist operations
working to overthrow our avowed en-
emy and the organizer of worldwide
terrorism, Muammar Qaddafi.
But in contemplating the horror
of the Malta massacre. there is this
to be considered. For some time,
Mossad, the superb Israeli intelli-
ence service has been passing on
information to its Egyptian counter.
act and to the CIA of detailed Tans
y t e Libya-PLO axis to extend the
terrorist war by disrupting the ast-
ern Mediterranean, This is not the
first time the Arab axis has
threatened the West.
Years ago, on information sup-
plied by Mossad, the FBI was able to,
thwart an Arab car-bombing in New
York that would have killed thou-
sands in the Wall Street financial
area. The FBI also knocked out a
PLO terrorist operation in the
United States.
The FBI was rewarded by a sharp
reprimand and a threat of legislative
action against it by Sen. Frank
Church and his Senate Intelligence
Committee because it had employed
"black bag" techniques in defeating
this PLO invasion.
The massacre at Malta
The Libyan-PLO campaign, of
which the EgyptAir hijacking is a
part, was in the works when PLO
chieftain Yasser Arafat was promis-
ing, to some applause, that in the
future he would limit terrorism to
Israeli soil. And it is of shocking in-
terest that the new Libyan-PLO on-
slau ht was known tote CIA before
President Reagan everted for the
summit meeting in en a. Since
PLO operations are guide by the
KGB it should have been incumbent
on the CIA and/or the State Depart-
ment to brief Mr. Rea an so that he
would be prepare to answer Soviet
dictator Mikhail Gorbachev when
the inevitable accusations of U.S.
"imperialism" in the Middle East
were made.
All of this, unfortunately, is his-
tory. For the immediate future, the
United States should set up an inter-
national task force to deal with the
new terrorist campaign.
If the United Nations were not
controlled by the Soviet and Arab
blocs, such a task force would be
within the area of its mandate. But
the United Nations will not act, leav-
ing it up to the United States to make
multinational arrangements with
the countries involved.
The terrorist front-line is rapidly
moving from the Eastern Mediterra-
nean to U.S. soil. So if the affected
countries are too timid or too cynical
to join the United States, this coun-
try must go it alone. Pious state-
ments that international terrorists
must have "no place to hide" are
hardly enough.
Before blood begins to run on
American streets, the United States
must move decisively and surgically.
There is no other solution.
Ralph de Toledano is a nationally
syndicated columnist.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520006-9